"I think you do. You came here in a spacecraft. It contains the secret we want. The knowledge of the hypatomic motor which drives it."
Gary's heart sank. He turned to Hugh Warren.
"Tell them, Hugh, what you told us on the trip here."
Warren did so. The councillors were courteous but unmoved. Their chief merely shrugged as he made reply.
"The situation is even worse than I thought. Earth's government is so jealous of its military secrets that it does not entrust them even to the Patrolmen who fight in its cause. No, gentlemen, I am afraid—"
It was the girl, Nora Powell, who interrupted him.
"But, Excellency," she cried, springing forward, "you can't do this! You can't risk the very existence of a dozen worlds for the sake of a selfish principle. You can't turn us away like this. Don't you realize what these men have dared already? Disgrace and death at the hands of their compatriots, unless our mission succeeds. We are exiles, fugitives from Earth, fighting alone and single-handed to protect Earth and all Sol's other children from—"
The councillor said, "Yes, we have heard the news by ultrawave radio of your—er—melodramatic escape from Earth. Surely, my dear young lady, you do not think we are taken in by such a ruse? It is an exquisitely imaginative tale. But we find it scarcely credible that five learnéd scientists and a crew of Solar Patrolmen should 'steal' a ship against the will of Earth's government.
"It is more likely—much more likely—that your world, in order to gain a sufficient supply of our vital fuel, has planned this little drama."