.
"I'll destroy its power principle first."

Baldy sighed. "I repeat, this isn't a brainless Martian without legal
rights. You abandoned it, a human found it. By merely picking up the
tool, he establishes a salvage claim."

"You call that law?" Ursi raged. "Stupid technicalities that settle one
problem to raise a worse one?"

"Until the Council ratifies the amendment foreseeing this contingency,"
Baldy explained, "you must abide by the original code."

"But the tool's restricted!"

"Restricted for thirty solar years according to the Probability Graphs,"
mused Baldy. "You should have thought of that."

Ursi's wide glittering eyes terrified Clark. But after an agonizing
silence, he heard Ursi whine fearfully, "We can't allow this! Can't you
read his basic attitudes? He's suffering from the Korb power complex."

Baldy shrugged. "Your misfortune, my dear Ursi."

Ursi edged warily toward Clark as if he were a ferocious but chained
beast. "Your nation is a member of the Western Alliance?"

Bewildered, Clark cleared his throat. "Yes."

"You have atomic weapons you intend using against your enemy--against
the Eastern Empire?"

"If they attack us," Clark muttered nervously.

Ursi shot an accusing look at Baldy who frowned. "They're vicious little
children!" Ursi ranted. "The decision placing the tool on the restricted
list is perfectly justified. We made no effort to hinder their atomic
researches. But in the case of this tool.... They have the ingenuity to
combine it with atomic bombs! If he returns with it, he'll wreck a
thousand years of human culture!"

Ursi's excited words puzzled Clark who was overcoming his early shock.
But the cylinder in his pocket was still more baffling. What was it?
What terrible power did it control?

"Spare your world suffering." Ursi warned. "Surrender it to me."

Clark considered. Sheltered by their "Law," he knew he could make a free
decision. The thing was powerful. But they claimed it was exceedingly
dangerous, and they seemed wiser, far wiser, than men. The mysterious
force still binding him and their hints of "restrictions" on human
progress convinced him of that. Still, possession was nine-tenths of any
law.... He calculated nervously.

"Well?" Ursi shrilled. "Your hands are now free to move."

Obediently Clark groped in his pocket. When his fingertips touched the
cool metal, the thrill of possessing immense power overwhelmed him. He
sputtered, "It's mine--I won't misus