Groot smiled. "You are confusing this with radio. My fault, perhaps. I called it mass-radio when speaking of it. But it is nothing of the sort. It is-how are you in mathematics?"
The Prime Minister made a grimace.
"Very well, then," continued Groot, "I cannot answer you properly. But I can tell you this: Those children were not broadcast like radio waves. They simply stepped through a door. It is as if I took that door-" He pointed to one in the end of the hall- "and twisted this building so that it fitted up against the door." He pointed. to another on the other end of the
hall. "I have tampered a little, oh, such a very little, with world lines, and pinned a piece of space to another piece of space with which it was not normally in con-tact." He pointed to the mass-radio re-ceiver present with them in the room. "That is one end of my pin. You under-stand ?"
"Well-not entirely."
Groot nodded. "I did not expect you to. I did not truly explain it. Without the language of tensor calculus it cannot be explained; I can only tell you an allegory."
An orderly trotted up and handed Groot a sheef of reports. Groot glanced at them "Two more stations and we shall be ready for the shield. Have you wondered how that worked, too?"
The statesman admitted that he had.
"It is the same thing and yet differ-ent," said Groot. "This time we lock the door, very softly. The world lines are given a gentle twist and mass will not pass along them. But pshaw ! Those are mon-key tricks, mere gadgets, complex as they seem to the layman. But the music now- that is another matter. There we tamper with the powers of heaven itself, which is why I am so careful with it."
The Prime Minister was surprised and said so. He had been impressed by the engineering miracles. The use of music he regarded as a harmless crotchet of Groot's.
"Oh, no," said Groot. "No. No in-deed. Have you ever ,thought about music? Why is music? What is it? Can you define it?" .
"Why-uh-music is certain rhythmi-cal arrangements of sounds which pro-duce emotional responses-"
Groot held up a hand. "Yes, but what arrangements? And what emotions? And why? Never mind. I have analyzed the matter. And now I hold the secret of Orpheus' lute, the magic of the Pied Piper."
He lowered his voice. "it is a serious matter, friend --- a dangerous matter. These other toys will go to state, but this one secret I keep always to myself-and try to forget."
The orderly hurried up again, and handed him another report. Groot looked at it ' and passed it over to the Prime Minister.
"Time," he said. "They are all back. We will set the shield."
A few minutes later the lead wires of some thousands of tripods, spaced equally along four hundred and seventy miles of battle front, were joined. Telephonic re-ports were relayed to GHQ, two switches were thrown, and a shimmering intangi-ble screen separated the opposing armies.
The war was over-de facto.
OFFICIAL PRIORITY MESSAGE
FROM: PRIME MINISTER
TO: CHANCELLOR
VIA: NEUTRAL LIAISON
EXCELLENCY, YOU ARE AWARE THAT HOSTILITIES HAVE CEASED BECAUSE OF OUR DEFENSIVE SCREEN. WE HOLD THREE HUNDRED FIFTY-SEVEN THOU-SAND AND TWELVE OF YOUR CHIL-DREN AS HOSTAGES. PLEASE SEND OBSERVERS UNDER FLAG OF TRUCE TO ASSURE YOU OF THEIR WELL-BEING. WE ARE PREPARED TO MAINTAIN STATUS QUO INDEFINITELY. WE ARE READY TO TREAT WITH YOU FOR AN EQUITABLE PEACE WITHOUT VICTORY TO REPLACE PRESENT DE FACTO ARMISTSCE.
SIGNED AND SEALED BY THE PRIME MINISTER
ON THE eleventh day of the peace conference, the chancellor asked for a recapitulation of the points agreed on. The chief clerk complied.
"First consideration: It is agreed that henceforth the two subscribing nations are one nation. Dependent considerations : " The clerk droned on. The two parliaments were to meet together, pend-ing a census and a constitutional conven-tion. The currencies were to be joined, and so forth, and so forth. It was provid-ed that the war orphans in each territory were to be reared in the land of the former enemy; and that subsidies were to be pro-vided to encourage marriages which would mingle the blood of the former two coun-tries.
The armies were to be demobilized and a corps of technical experts were to be trained in the use of the new defensive weapons developed by Doctor Groot.
Doctor Groot himself lolled in a chair near the middle of the horseshoe of desks. When the clerk had concluded, the Prime Minister and the chancellor looked at Groot.
"Well, he said testily, when the pause had grown, "let's sign it and go home. The rest is routine."
"Had you considered," observed the chancellor, "that this new nation we have created must have a head; a chief execu-tive ?"
"What of it?"
"I cannot be it, nor can it be-" he bowed to the Prime Minister-"my hon-orable friend."
"Well! Pick one!"
"We have. There is only one man uni-versally trusted here. He and no other will do, if this agreement is to be more than a scrap of paper. And that one is yourself, Doctor."
At this, the field marshal arose at his place at the head of his nation's table of military officials.
"Stop!" he shouted. "There is no need to go further with this fool's play. I shall not stand by while my country is dis-honored and prostituted." He clapped his hands together. As if prearranged, two officers left the table, ran to the horseshoe and grasped Groot on each side.
"You are relieved of office, Mr. Prime Minister. I shall conduct the affairs of our country until the war is over. Safe con-duct will be provided for the representa-tives of the enemy. Hostilities will be re-sumed at once. And that-" he pointed at Dr. Groot and bristled in rage-"that meddler must be removed -- completely."
GROOT sat quietly, making no at-tempt to resist his captors. But under the table, his shoe pressed down on a button concealed in the rug. In another room some relays clicked.
And the music started.
Not children's music this time. No, rather the Ride of the Valkyrie, the May-seillaise. Not these exactly, but rather that quality of each, and of every martial song, that promises men Valhalla after battle.
The field marshal heard it and stopped in his tracks; his fine old head reared up, listening. The two officers grasping Groot heard it, and dropped his arms. One by one almost every one of the uniformed men stood up and quested for the sound. Here and there an occasional 4 rock-coated dignitary joined them. Almost imme-diately they formed a column of fours and swung away down the great hall, their heels pounding to two-four time.
At the end of the hall a tapestry swung aside and revealed ... nothingness ... nothingness, in a large frame. '
The column marched into the blackness. When the last man had disappeared, Grout released the pressure from the but-ton. The blackness vanished, leaving an empty frame, with the wall just beyond it. A murmur of expelled breath filled the room.
The Prime Minister turned to Grout and dabbed at his brow with a fine linen handkerchief. "Good God, man, where have you sent them?"
Grout shook his head. "I am sorry. I do not know."
"You don't know?"
"No. You see, I anticipated some trou-ble, but did not have time to fasten the other end of my `pin'." The Prime Minister was horror -stricken.
"Poor old John," he muttered.
Grout nodded soberly. "Yes. I am sorry I had to do it. Poor old John. He was such a good man-I liked him so very much."