"Excellent," said Skardoth. "We will have use for you." He put out his
hand, and Stern, feeling trapped, took it.
"Good luck, John Stern," said Skardoth.
It was that last remark that finally made up Stern's mind; Skardoth
shouldn't have known his _first_ name! He shouldn't have known any part
of the name that the Council of Judges had assigned to Yorkan Varr.
Since he did, it meant that Matt Skardoth knew more than he should!
* * * * *
It was nearly three weeks before "John Stern" figured out a method of
attack. If he could only get his hands on Matt Skardoth, he'd be able
to prove that he, Yorkan Varr, was innocent of the crime of which he
had been accused. And, possibly, he would be able to prove that the
others of the Group were innocent, too.
Skardoth's plan was quite evident. Earth was a Class Q-1 civilization;
it bordered on being admitted to the Federation. But Skardoth had been
on Earth for five hundred years; the short-lived Earthmen had no idea
that their destinies had been controlled by a being whose life span was
nearly ten times as long as theirs.
Yorkan Varr--he tried to think of himself as John Stern now--was, like
all citizens of the Federation, extremely long-lived. He would easily
live to be a thousand--perhaps more. But the Exiles had, in the last
few centuries, taken advantage of the Earthmen--a fact which had not
been communicated to the Council of Judges. The Council evidently
thought that the Earth was still in the lower classes of civilization;
they didn't realize that Earthmen had already built interplanetary
spaceships and might yet build interstellar vehicles.
Stern felt he could trust the girl, Elizabeth. She seemed to be aware
that something was wrong, but she didn't quite seem to know what.
One night, Skardoth assigned both of them to go out to Long Island to
take a look at the Nuclear Power Plant there. He wanted data on the new
nucleolectric energies that had been developed.
Elizabeth was supposedly a nuclear scientist assigned to the Long
Island plant; for twelve years she had built up her identity there.
But, as they approached the installation, she slowed the car and parked
it alongside the road.
"What's the idea, Liz?" he asked.
"There's something troubling you Johnny. What is it?"