“It is true that by using mental forces to control physical energy,” he said carefully, “we are able to move from place to place without the aid of spaceships or other such machines.”
Immediately, the wall blanked again.
Thagobar turned around slowly and looked at Zandoplith. Zandoplith’s face looked a dirty crimson; the healthy violet had faded.
“I guess you’d best call in the officers,” he said slowly; “we’ve got a monster on our hands.”
It took three minutes for the twenty officers of the huge Verf to assemble in the Psychology Room. When they arrived, Thagobar asked them to relax and then outlined the situation.
“Now,” he said, “are there any suggestions?”
They were definitely not relaxed now. They looked as tense as bowstrings.
Lieutenant Pelquesh was the first to speak. “What are the General Orders, Your Splendor?”
“The General Orders,” Thagobar said, “are that we are to protect our ship and our race, if necessary. The methods for doing so are left up to the commander’s discretion.”
There was a rather awkward silence. Then a light seemed to come over Lieutenant Pelquesh’s face. “Your Splendor, we could simply drop an annihilation bomb on the planet.”
Thagobar shook his head. “I’ve already thought of that. If they can move themselves through space by means of thought alone, they would escape, and their race would surely take vengeance for the vaporization of one of their planets.”
Gloom descended.
“Wait a minute,” said Pelquesh. “If he can do that, why hasn’t he escaped from us?”
Magruder watched the wall become transparent. The room was filled with aliens now. The big cheese, Thagobar, was at the pickup.
“We are curious,” he said, “to know why, if you can go anywhere at will, you have stayed here. Why don’t you escape?”
More fast thinking. “It is not polite,” Magruder said, “for a guest to leave his host until the business at hand is finished.”
“Even after we… ah… disciplined you?”
“Small discomforts can be overlooked, especially when the host is acting in abysmal ignorance.”
There was a whispered question from one of Thagobar’s underlings and a smattering of discussion, and then:
“Are we to presume, then, that you bear us no ill will?”
“Some,” admitted Magruder candidly. “It is only because of your presumptuous behavior toward me, however, that I personally am piqued. I can assure you that my race as a whole bears no ill will whatever toward your race as a whole or any member of it.”
Play it up big, Magruder, he told himself. You’ve got ’em rocking—I hope.
More discussion on the other side of the wall.
“You say,” said Thagobar, “that your race holds no ill will toward us; how do you know?”
“I can say this,” Magruder told him; “I know—beyond any shadow of a doubt—exactly what every person of my race thinks of you at this very moment.
“In addition, let me point out that I have not been harmed as yet; they would have no reason to be angry. After all, you haven’t been destroyed yet.”
Off went the sound. More heated discussion. On went the sound.
“It has been suggested,” said Thagobar, “that, in spite of appearances, it was intended that we pick you, and you alone, as a specimen. It is suggested that you were sent to meet us.”
Oh, brother! This one would have to be handled with very plush gloves.
“I am but a very humble member of my race,” Magruder said as a prelude—mostly to gain time. But wait! He was an extraterrestrial biologist, wasn’t he? “However,” he continued with dignity, “my profession is that of meeting alien beings. I was, I must admit, appointed to the job.”