_
everything!"

He crushed her to him. "Lucky they did, honey. Seems like they've put
all their hopes in us."

"... imminent war, and what radiation would do to surface life. We could
not go with you, nor was there time to build underground installations
for surviving more than half a century and emerging to a temporarily
unproductive soil. We selected you to inherit the world, and you have
had the hopes and prayers of your nation and your people."

They sat on a low chest and listened to the psychologist's voice for
nearly an hour more. He finished on a message of hope. "You have seen
the results of war. With the knowledge and material at hand, and the
atmosphere craft waiting at the sealed exit, you can contact what
survivors' descendants you may find in hidden corners of the world and
lead them to the peaceful glory of Earth's future.

"Obviously, life will not visit back and forth between the stars, or
even the planets. The laws of Space and Time confine man to one
world--but it _can_ be made the best of all possible worlds, free of war
within, and free of conquest from without, since the reasons which keep
man from visiting other spheres will keep other life from visiting him."

The screen faded and was silent, followed by a clear, trilling whistle
which swelled in a paean of lilting sound. While Ken squeezed Carol's
hand in mounting amazement, the piping strain formed clearly into
words--

_With understanding of universal laws, life may do as it wills, go where
it wills ... we have come to your planet to help you ... may we?_

The psychologists had not foreseen quite everything....

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Fly By Night, by Arthur Dekker Savage

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