SHE WASN'T CRYING. Her gray eyes had lights in them. "You're wonderful, Roy. I didn't realize how wonderful."
He was ashamed, then. "Nuts. In my racket you don't expect to get away with it forever. Besides, I'm an old dog. I know my way around. I have a little money saved up. I won't be in for long."
"I hope not,'" she said. "Oh, Roy, it's so stupid! Why do Earthmen have to change everything they lay their hands on?"
He looked at Tredrick, lying on the stones. His voice came slow and somber.
"They're building, Stella. When they're finished they'll have a big, strong, prosperous empire extending all across the System, and the people who belong to that empire will be happy.
"But before you can build you have to grade and level, destroy the things that get in your way. We're the things -
