“And that’s your job, Thompson,” said Kennebec.
“And that’s enough,” responded Thompson. He wiped his face.
“Oh, I’ll issue the proper orders. They’ll receive them—and any trace of insubordination on the part of either of them will be cause for reprimand. Public reprimand.”
“But the reason behind all this? I don’t understand.”
“Nor does anyone else. Look Thompson, the Little Man has a super ship out there on Mojave. It is a real bear-cat. Packed into space smaller than this office is enough stuff to hold off the Guard for a week. That’s premise number one.
“Number two. They have some sort of telepathic means of communications.
“Number three. They came here for help. Why, I may never tell you until it’s analyzed by the experts. But they came here for help. A machine, bomb, some means
