is new. Henceforth, it shall be the
Three and a Coordinator!

"Your vote shall outweigh all but a unanimous vote of the Three. To you,
this world is answerable, for you have saved our civilization. And when
you return, as you have promised, you shall be Coordinator of this
system!"

Arcot stood silent for a moment. This was a thing he had never thought
of. He was a scientist, and he knew that his ability was limited to that
field.

At last, he smiled and replied: "It is a great honor, and it is a great
work. But I can not spend my time here always; I must return to my own
planet. I can not be fairly in contact with you.

"Therefore, I will make my first move in office now, and suggest that
this plaque signify, not the Coordinator, and first power of your
country, but Counselor and first friend in all things in which I can
serve you.

"The tetrahedron you have chosen; so let it be. The apex is out of the
plane of the other points, and I am out of this galaxy. But there is a
relationship between the apex and the points of the base, and these
lines will exist forever.

"We have been too busy to think of anything else as yet, but our worlds
are large, and your worlds are large. Commerce can develop across the
ten million light years of space as readily as it now exists across the
little space of our own system. It is a journey of but five days, and
later machines will make it in less! Commerce will come, and with it
will come close communication.

"I will accept this plaque with the understanding that I am but your
friend and advisor. Too much power in the hands of one man is bad. Even
though you trust me completely, there might be an unscrupulous
successor.

"And I must return to my world.

"Your first ship will be ready tomorrow, and when it is completed, my
friends and I will leave your planet.

"We will return, though. We are ten million light years apart, but the
universe is not to be measured in space anymore, but in time. We are
five days apart. I will be nearer to you at all times than is Sator!

"If you wish, others of my race shall come, too. But if you do not want
them to come, they will not. I alone have Tharlano's photographs of the
route, and I can lose them."

For a moment, the Three spoke together, then the Scientist was again
thinking at Arcot.

"Perhaps you are right. It is obvious your people know more than we.
They have the molecular ray, and they know no wars; they do not destroy
eac