Guy Maynard arrived to find his room in order as according to the treatment given M-12 cases. He walked around the room and inspected everything there, finally dropping into the easy-chair to think. It struck him, then. For a moment he was thoughtful, and then the humor of the situation hit him like a blow.
For Ertene had prepared a world of painstaking evidence to support his tale of suffering and trouble. They gave him every bit.
And for their trouble on the lifeship, it had been destroyed without inspection because of Terran fear of discovery. Not that Terra was concerned about reprisals, but just because Terran ideas of exchange dictated that they should let a matter drop after they had received the better of the argument.
And then his story. Had he memorized that log day for day and word for word, it would have been of no use. He was ordered to forget it in every detail save those "ideas" he was supposed to have had.
How neatly had the Terrans destroyed every mite of Ertinian evidence.
All expect the scientific side.
And Ertene would roam on through the Galaxy in utter silence, having scattered the seeds of advancement upon fertile ground.
Ertene's life was not in vain.