To battle the Old Ones would be no easy match—yet time might work for the human race. Already they controlled the electromagnetic spectrum, and hydrogen fusion could exert the force of suns. With Hatcher's help—and his own—Man would free his mind as well; and perhaps the Old Ones would find themselves against an opponent as mighty as themselves.

He drew back from the Central Masses, no longer afraid, and swept out to see Hatcher's planet.

It was gone.

In the great gas cloud the tunneling blue suns swept up their graze of hydrogen, untroubled by planets. Themselves too young to have solid satellites, Hatcher's adopted world removed again, they were alone.

Gone!

It was for a moment, a panicky thought. McCray realized what they had done. Hatcher's greatest hope had been to find another race to stand between his people and the Old Ones. And they had found it!

Now Hatcher's world could hide again and wait until the battle had been fought for them.

With a face light-years across, with a brain made up of patterns in the ether, McCray grinned wryly.

"Maybe they made the right choice," he thought, considering. "Maybe they'd only be in the way when the showdown comes." And he sought out Jodrell Bank and his body once more, preparing to return to being human ... and to teach his fellow-humans to be gods.

[Transcriber's Note: No Secton V heading in original]

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