"What's that?" asked West.
"Stella. The other one of them. The one with the face."
"Oh, I see," said West. "I didn't know her name was Stella. No one, in
fact, knows anything about her. She suddenly appeared one night as a
surprise feature on one of the networks. She was announced as a mystery
singer, and then people began calling her the White Singer. She always
sang in dim, blue light, you see, and no one ever saw her face too
plainly, although everyone imagined, of course, that it was beautiful.
"The network made no bones about her being an alien being. She was
represented as a member of a mystery race that Juston Lloyd had found
in the Asteroids. You remember Lloyd, the New York press agent."
Nevin was leaning across the table. "And the people, the government, it
does not suspect?"
West shook his head. "Why should it? Your Stella is a wonder. Everyone
is batty over her. The newspapers went wild. The movie people--"
"And the cults?"
"The cults," said West, "are doing fine."
"And you?" asked Cartwright and in the man's rumbling voice West felt
the challenge.
"I found out," he said, "I came here to get cut in."
"You know exactly what you are asking?"
"I do," said West, wishing that he did.
"A new philosophy," said Cartwright. "A new concept of life. New paths
for progress. Secrets the human race never has suspected. Remaking the
human civilization almost overnight."
"And you," said West, "right at the center, pulling all the strings."
"So," said Cartwright.
"I want a few to pull myself."
Nevin held up his hand. "Just a minute, Mr. West. We would like to know
just how--"
Cartwright laughed at him. "Forget it, Louis. He knew about your
painting. He had Annabelle. Where do you suppose he found out?"
"But--but--" said Nevin.
"Maybe he didn't use a painting," Cartwright declared. "Maybe he used
other methods. After all, there are others, you know. Thousands of
years ago men knew of the place we found. Mu, probably. Atlantis. Some
other forgotten civilization. Just the fact that West had Annabelle is
enough for me. He must have been there."
West smiled, relieved. "I used other methods," he told them.