burroughs gave the commercial, which had nothing to do with interplanetary flight, or anything else of interest. "now, ladies and gentlemen," said burroughs, "our two distinguished scientists have a great deal to tell us about two widely separated points in the universe."
dr. bruber smiled into the camera. "just before we went on the air, mr. burroughs," he said, "ambassador olbu and i had an interesting discussion about the merits of earth. he contends that it is unstable—"
"you are twisting my words around, doctor," interpolated olbu. "i made it clear that it was not the planet itself, but the people who are objectionable."
"the people spoil the planet?"
"in a sense. the people are dangerous, the planet is not."
"would it be possible for a planet to spoil the people?"
olbu seemed to digest the words in his mind before he spoke: "that is a rather weak effort to shift the blame from the shoulders of those responsible for a sad state of affairs, doctor. you are trying to say there is something in the air, or the water, that makes earthmen what they are."
"no, i was hinting that there might be something wrong with your planet, mr. olbu."
"nonsense! nothing is wrong with my planet. my people would not be affected even if the air and water were bad. we, the children of xvik, are the highest expression of the human race."
"it's easy to see that," said dr. bruber. "you were pointing out to me that earth's pattern of existence doesn't offer much hope for the future."
"that is right," said olbu. "earth's future is not much to look forward to."
"but the planet is worth saving?"
"definitely."
"yet the people are a part of the planet."
"you should study logic, dr. bruber. you're trying to make me say things that are not logical."
"okay, let's forget logic and look at what earth is likely to do if it follows its 'natural' trend. you say it will destroy itself."
"if someone else doesn't do it first," said olbu. "it will continue to have wars till it exhausts all opportunities for it on the planet. then it will war in the skies, with other planets, with other stars, finally with other galaxies. man has a thirst for power, and that thirst is never satisfied. on the other hand, knowledge leads to contentment. if the earth should seek knowledge, it would forget war."
"perhaps war is necessary for survival," suggested dr. bruber.
"war is seldom fought for survival. it is a result of a struggle for supremacy. and, might i ask, supremacy of what? after you've conquered all the galaxies, what do you have?"
"olbu seems to have a point there," said burroughs. "it is now time for a brief message from our sponsor."
the message had nothing to do with war, or knowledge.
"now, olbu," began burroughs, "we were talking about wars, knowledge, power and survival. do you have anything else to add?"
"only that earth has brought this on itself," said olbu.
"i don't quite understand—" cecil burroughs wrinkled his massive brow.
"what our distinguished visitor is trying to say," said dr. bruber, "is that a planet is only as stable as its people. and a star system is only as stable as its planets. isn't that it, ambassador?"
"you have a round-about method of stating nothing at all," said olbu. "what i'm trying to tell you is that sometimes worlds must come to an end."
"exactly," said dr. bruber. "i've made a study of gc1242 for many years and i'm quite familiar with it. this star, as many scientists know, became a super nova about fifteen years ago."
"what?" olbu's eyes grew less slanting and more round.
"it was an unstable star," said dr. bruber. "the earth, with all its faults, is stable. it may be young, impulsive, inclined to play with fire—atomic fire no less—but it will grow up some day."
"my star, my planet—gone?"
"you haven't been in contact with your home base since you arrived?" dr. bruber asked.
"i was not supposed to contact my base," said olbu, "until—" he stopped abruptly, and those with him were aware of the fact that he was using his mental powers to call his superiors.—the lengthening silence seemed to give proof to bruber's words.
"since you have no world to go to," interrupted the dr. gently, "i hope you'll be our guest. perhaps you can teach us something about space flight and your mental powers."
"oh yes!" said olbu eagerly. "and if i have by any chance cast reflections on your planet...."
"my dear mr. olbu, science has never suffered when scientists have dealt frankly with problems at hand."
"i'm afraid our time is up," put in cecil burroughs. "thank you gentlemen, and i hope our viewers will tune in again next week when we will have two interesting personalities, sam katchum, who tames rattlesnakes, and joe wattles, who stuffs cobras. glad we could be together."
ralph rodkey shook dr. bruber's hand as he emerged from the broadcast room. "you saved my life; you saved my job!"
"think nothing of it, ralph. it was nothing i wouldn't have done for myself."
"but if you hadn't known about gc1242 becoming a super nova—"
"you don't think the loss of gc1242 was accidental, do you?"
"good lord, bruber. i don't know anything about those things."
"as our friend olbu said, man develops along certain patterns ... first his own planet, then neighboring planets, then star systems."
"you don't think—?"
"i do, rodkey. i do. somebody else was just a little more advanced than gc1242 and did to them what they wanted to do to us."
