One could not take a chance. One could not gamble with an imponderable.
Better that one man die needlessly than that the whole race lose its grip upon the galaxy. Better that one new idea, however great, be blotted out than that all the vast associations of ideas which represented mankind be swept from the billion stars.
Item One: Sutton wasn't human.
Item Two: He was not telling all he knew.
Item Three: He had a manuscript which was not decipherable.
Item Four: He meant to write a book.
Item Five: He had a new idea.
Conclusion: Sutton must be killed.
Ker-rup, clickity, click…
War, the man had said. A war in time.