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had proven not quite-amusing. That first day had ruined things. He found himself thinking back to, that
day at Chica.
He was instantly angry with himself for thinking about it again. She had been rude, egregiously ungrateful,
a common Earthgirl. Why should he feel guilty? And yet
Had he made allowances for her shock at discovering him to be, an Outsider, like that officer who had
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insulted her and whose arrogant brutality he had repaid with a broken arm? After all, how could he know
how much
she had already suffered at the hands of Outsiders? And then to, find out, like that, without any softening
of the blow, that he was one.
If he had been more patient ... Why had he broken it off so brutally? He didn't even remember her
name. It was Pola something. Strange! His memory was ordinarily better than that. Was it an
unconscious effort to forget?
Well, that made sense. Forget! What was there to, remember, anyway? An Earthgirl. A common
Earthgirl.
She was a nurse in a hospital. Suppose, he tried to locate the hospital. It had been just a vague Not in
the night when he parted from her, but it must be in the neighborhood of that Foodomat.
He snatched at the thought and broke into, a thousand angry fragments, Was he mad? What would he
have gained? She was an Earthgirl. Pretty, sweet, somehow entic---
An, Earthgirl
The High Minister was entering, and Arvardan was glad. It meant relief from that day in Chica. But,
deep in his mind, he knew that they would return. They-the thoughts, that is-always did.
As for the High Minister, his robe was new and glistening in its freshness. His forehead showed no trace
of haste or doubt; perspiration might have been a stranger to it.
And the, conversation was friendly, indeed. Arvardan was at pains to mention the well-wishings of some
of the great men of the, Empire to the people of Earth. The High Minister was as careful to express the
thorough gratification that must be felt by all Earth at the generosity and enlightenment of the Imperial
Government.
Arvardan expounded on the importance of archaeology to Imperial philosophy, on its contribution to the
great conclusion that all humans of whatever world of the Galaxy were brothers and the High Minister
agreed blandly and pointed out that Earth had long held such to be the case and could only hope that the
time would shortly come when the rest of the Galaxy might turn theory into practice.
Arvardan smiled very shortly at that and said, "It is for that very purpose, Your Excellency, that I have
approached you. The differences between Earth and some Of the Imperial Dominions neighboring it rest
largely, perhaps, on differing ways of thinking. Still, a good deal of friction could be removed if it could
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be shown that Earthmen were not different, racially, from other Galactic citizens."
"And how would you propose to do, that, sir?"
"That is not easy to explain in a word. As Your Excellency may know, the two main currents of
archaeological thinking are commonly called the Merger Theory and the Radiation Theory."
"I am acquainted with a layman's view of both."
"Good. Now the Merger Theory, of course, involves the notion that the various types of humanity-
evolving independently, have intermarried in the very early, scarcely documented days of primitive space
travel. A conception like that is necessary to account for the fact that Humans are so alike one to the
other now."
"Yes," commented the High Minister dryly, "and such a conception also involves the necessity of having
several hundred, or thousand, separately evolved beings of a more or less human type so closely related
chemically and biologically that intermarriage is possible."
"True," replied Arvardan with satisfaction. "You have put your finger on an impossibly weak point. Yet
most archaeologists ignore it and adhere firmly to, the Merger Theory, which would, of course, imply the
possibility that in isolated portions of the Galaxy there might be subspecies of humanity who remained
different, didn't intermarry-"
"You mean Earth," commented the High Minister.
"Earth is considered an example. The Radiation Theory, on the other hand-"
"Considers us all descendants of one planetary group of humans,"
"Exactly."
"My people," said the High Minister, "because of the evidence of our own history, and of certain writings
which are sacred to us and cannot be exposed to the view of Outsiders, are of the belief that Earth itself
is the origmial home of humanity."
"And so I believe as well, and I ask your help to prove this point to all the Galaxy."
"You are optimistic. Just what is involved?"
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"It is my conviction, Your Excellency, that many primitive artifacts and architectural remains may be
located in those areas of your world which are now, unfortunately, masked by radioactivity. The age of
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