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.For a long moment, he stared at the gangling body, studied the faint triumph thatgleartied in the abnormally long yet distinctive face of the Wizard man.Carson said: You can read minds.So it s unnecessary to tell you what s going on.What are yourintentions? Derrel smiled, the glowing, magnetic smile that Carson had already seen.His agateeyes shone, as he surveyed the circle of men; then he began to speak in a strong, resonantvoice.There was command in that voice, and a rich, powerful personality behind it, thevoice of a man who had won: My first intention is to tell everyone here that we are going to an age that is atreasure house of spoils for bold men.Women, palaces, wealth, power for every man whofollows me to the death.You know yourself what a damned, barren world we re in now.No women, never anything for us but the prospect of facing death fighting the Gloriousstill entrenched on Venus or Earth! And a damned bunch of moralists fighting a war tothe finish over some queer idea that men ought or ought not to have birth control.Areyou with me? It was a stirring, a ringing appeal to basic impulses; and the answer could not havebeen more satisfactory.A roar of voices, cheers; and finally:aaTTnnssFFffooDDrrPPmmYYeeYYrrBB22.BBAAClick here to buyClick here to buywwmmwwoowwcc.AAYYBBYYBB r r What are we waiting for? Let s get going! The faint triumph deepened on Derrel s face as he turned back to Garson.He saidsoftly: I m sorry I lied to you, professor, but it never occurred to me that Mairphy oranybody aboard would know my history.I told you what I did because I had read in yourmind some of the purposes that moved your actions.Naturally, I applied the first law ofpersuasion, and encouraged your hopes and desires. Carson smiled grimly.The little speech Derrel had just given to the men was asupreme example of the encouragement of hopes and desires, obviously opportunistic,insincere and-reliable only if it served the other s future purposes.He saw that Derrel was staring at him, and he said: You know whats in my mind.Perhaps you can give me some of that easyencouragement you dispense.But, remember, it s got to be based on logic.That includesconvincing me that, if I go to the captain, it is to your self-interest to set me down near aPlanetarian stronghold, and that furthermore- The words, all the air in his lungs, hissed out of his body.There was a hideous senseof pressure.He was jerked off his feet; and he had the flashing, uncomprehending visionof two beds passing by beneath him.Then he was falling.Instinctively, he put out his hand-and took the desperate blow of the crash onto athird bed.He sprawled there, stunned, dismayed, but unhurt and safe.Safe from what?He clawed himself erect, and stood swaying, watching other men pick themselvesup, becoming aware for the first time of groans, cries of pain and- A voice exploded intothe room from some unseen source: Control room speaking! Derrel-the damnedest thinghas happened.A minute ago, we were thirty million miles from Venus.Now, the planet sJust ahead, less than two million miles, plainly visible.What s happened? Carson saw Derrel then.The man was lying on his back on the floor, his eyes open,an intent expression on his face.The Wizard man waved aside his extended hands. Wait! Derrel said sharply. The tentacle aboard this ship has just reported to theObserver on Venus; and is receiving a reply, an explanation of what happened.I m tryingto get it. His voice changed, became a monotone: -the seventeenth x space and timemanipulations.taking place somewhere in the future.several years from now.Yourspaceship either by accident or design caught in the eddying current in the resulting timestorm- Still not the faintest clue to the origin of the mighty powers being exercised.Thatis all.except that battleships are on the way from Venus to help you- Derrel stood up; he said quietly: About what you were saying, Carson, there is nomethod by which I can prove that I will do anything for you.History records that I livedout my full span of life.Therefore, no self-interest, no danger to the Universe can affectmy existence in the past.You ll have to act on the chance that the opportunity offers forus to give you assistance later, and there s no other guarantee I can give. That at least was straightforward.Only-to the opportunist, even truth was but ameans to an end, a means of lulling suspicion.There remained the hard fact that he musttake the risks.He said: Give me five minutes to think it over.You believe, I can see, that I willgo. aaTTnnssFFffooDDrrPPmmYYeeYYrrBB22.BBAAClick here to buyClick here to buywwmmwwoowwcc.AAYYBBYYBB r rDerrel nodded: Both your conscious and subconscious minds are beginning toaccept the idea. There was utterly no premonition in him of the fantastic thing that was going tohappen.He thought, a gray, cold thought:So he was going! In five minutes.He stood finally at the wall visiplate, staring out at the burnished silver immensity ofVenus.The planet, already cast, was expanding visibly, like a balloon being blown up.Only it didn t stop expanding and, unlike an overgrown baloon, it didn t explode.The tight silence was broken by the tallest of the three handsome Canellians.Theman s words echoed, not Carson s thoughts, but the tenor, the dark mood of them: So much beauty proves once again that war is the most completely futile act ofman.And the worst of it is that, somewhere in the future of this future there are peoplewho know who won this war; arid they re doing nothing-damn them! His impulse was to say something, to add once more his own few facts to thatfascinating subject.But instead he held his thought hard on the reality of what he mustdo-in a minute!Besides, Mairphy had described the Canellians as emotional weaklings, who hadconcentrated on beauty, and with whom it was useless to discuss anything.True, hehimself had given quite a few passable displays of emotionalism
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