George O. Smith

“ Professor Milton is a literal-minded genius, and a bit of a screwball. A more brilliant man has seldom existed on this earth—but he reminds me somewhat of a powerful machine running wild; neither he nor a machine has much judgment. ”

“ But with some sort of field to divide and direct the forces of gravity—Well, your guess is as good as mine."
"Fine," said Ingalls sourly. "So we have the job of locating one man in the earth who might be capable of ruining it, but we don't know how." He snorted. "Could one man do it?"
"We're here because we think so; he's done some mighty impossible things so far. Few of them are known for security reasons. Actually, though it is not admitted, Professor Milton is the man whose calculations made the original uranium pile practical. ”

“ I—"
"Please consider first," objected Moreiko.
"But why? Your ideology is at cross purposes with ours; you go your way and we'll go ours."
"Dead!" snapped Moreiko.
"Better dead," replied Milton, "than constant strife."
"You realize that you will kill every man on earth?"
"Not at all.... Just a few. The others will find life difficult for a bit but most will survive." ”

“ Your half-apple of a world is unstable astronomically. Gravity would set in unfavorably upon the instant of division and separation and the half-apple would collapse into two smaller spheres, gradually assuming true spherical shapes in thousands of years as the rocks cold-flowed. ”

“ Doctor Harris shook his head. His agitation did not diminish, despite the calm composure of the man behind the desk. "Doctor Edwards," he explained, "you don't really understand. He—"
"Look, Harris," replied Doctor Edwards, dropping the formality of title, "is there anything we can do about it?"
"No," admitted Harris uncomfortably. "But you don't know what he'll be doing next." He handed the paper to the quiet man behind the desk. Doctor Edwards read:
Dear Doctor Edwards:
It has come to my attention that the world is in a high state of confusion. ”

“ Field theory is an abstract subject and he'll try to reduce it to practise, I'd guess. Mechanical division is impossible, I'd state flatly. Gravity holds the earth together; slicing it would do no good for it would cold-pressure weld together once the knife passed. ”

“ However it stands that the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics wants to rule a certain part of the world in their own manner—which is anathema to the United States of America. Similarly, the United States of America prefers to see the world operating under a manner favorable to its principles of Democracy. ”

“ They beat the Circle from pole to pole and though finding one man in the wilderness of earth might be impossible, every available man was seeking him actively. Locating Milton was inevitable—providing Milton did not accomplish his division of the earth first. ”