ear, as those with eyes to see had urged her. But she hadn't chosen to
do so. Instead, she had stepped back on her high retreat of neutrality,
and let the Throm aliens do as they liked. It wasn't the first time
she'd acted like that, either.

With more than half of the inhabited planets occupied by various
monsters, it seemed obvious that the humanoid planets had to make a
common stand. If Meloa fell, it would be an alien stepping stone that
could lead back eventually to Earth itself. And once the monsters
realized that Earth was unwilling to fight, her vast resources would no
longer scare them--she'd be only a rich plum, ripe for the plucking.

When Duke had been one of the first to volunteer for Meloa, he had
never realized his home world could refuse to join the battle. He'd
believed in Earth and humanity then. He'd waited through all the grim
days when it seemed Throm must win--when the absence of replacements
proved the communiques from Meloa to be nothing but hopeful lies. But
there had been no help. Earth's neutrality remained unshaken.

And now, after fourteen years in battle hell, helping to fight off a
three-planet system of monsters that might have swarmed against all the
humanoid races, Earth was willing to forgive him and take him back to
the shame of his birthright!

* * * * *

"I'm staying," he said flatly. "Unless you Meloans want to kick me out
now?"

The pilot swung around, dropping a quick hand on his shoulder.
"Captain," he said, "that isn't something to joke about. We won't
forget that there would be no Meloa today without men like you. But we
can't ask you to stay. Things have changed--insanely. The news we sent
to the fleet was pure propaganda!"

"We guessed that," Duke told him. "We knew the Throm ships. And when
the dispatches reported all those raids without any getting through, we
stopped reading them. How many did penetrate, anyhow?"

"Thirty-one full raids," the navigator said woodenly. "Thirty-one in
the last four months!"

"_Thirty-one!_ What happened to the home fleet?"

"We broke it up and sent it out for your replacements," the pilot
answered dully. "It was the only chance we had to win."

Duke swallowed the idea slowly. He couldn't picture a planet giving up
its last protection for a desperate effort to end the war on purely
offensive drive. Three billion people watching the home fleet take off,
knowing the skies were open for all th