The Commander's stern jaw relaxed, his mouth fell open in shock. Impossible! Incredible! The man continued to remain motionless, regarding them with annoyed perplexity.
The scientists had blundered; earth beings were not creatures governed by their emotions. The data collected by the spy ships had been erroneous, the invasion would fail.
Instinctively he looked to the woman. Eve watched him in open amusement, and he wondered if he had not caught a glimpse of sympathy in her eyes. She knew what this meant to him. No man returned to the mother planet in defeat. If he did not follow the time-honored custom of self-destruction to atone for his failure, he would face a quick death when he returned.
"What—what did you want?" asked the man, annoyance making his voice a petulant whine.
"Nothing, sir. We made a mistake. I'm afraid we came to the wrong place."
The Commander turned to Eve, his face transformed by a smile for the first time since they had been together.
"I know of an asteroid that is pretty well out of the space lanes. It has an atmosphere and can support life without a great struggle on our part. Do you think you could like it there? Of course, it wouldn't be much of a world for you to conquer, and I would be the only man to serve you ... but...."
She studied him thoughtfully, and then in answer to what he had asked, she took his arm. They left the cabin together, walking very closely.
It must have seemed a cosmic joke to the gods of the universe to see the invader and the woman, who was to have been his weapon, pause and wave a casual farewell to the planet they had come to conquer.