"I know, but a lead garment of sufficient thickness would protect me from the radiation," I said earnestly. "I know that from my own science. Let me go on this mission, lord Odin!"
He hesitated. "The lead suits which Loki used for his secret descents into Muspelheim are still here," he muttered. "It might be done, Jarl Keith. I will go with you on this perilous trip."
But Thor shook his great, shaggy head.
"No, Father, you must not go," the Hammerer declared. "You must be here to take command if Loki's forces attack before tomorrow. And you will also need all the available time to build the mechanism of which you and Jarl Keith speak." He turned to me. "I will go with Jarl Keith down into Muspelheim."
Odin reluctantly assented.
"So be it, then, though I dislike to send you, Jarl Keith, upon this fearful mission. The fight is for the sake of our people, not yours."
"The Aesir are my people, now and always, if you will let me claim that privilege!"
Odin's iron face softened, and he laid his great hand on my shoulder.
"Jarl Keith, I welcome you as one of us. Weal or woe, life or death, you are outlander no longer, but jarl and captain of the Aesir."
Hard-headed American scientist or not, I felt pride such as I had never felt before, to be accepted into the company of these mighty men.