"Apes? Monkeys?" Chiun said bewilderedly. "You must be referring to some other things. My Korean ancestors do not come from mere apes. I have been taught that our line sprang from the pairing of the great Tangun and a bear."
"Yes, this is true," the World Master said. "I am Tangun."
This time Chiun's entire body trembled. "You? Tangun? You have told me that your name is Hopak Kay."
"My full name is Tangun Hopak Kay."
"That is a strange name," said Chiun slowly.
"To human ears perhaps."
"Tell me of your world," Chiun asked next. "I wish to know more of it."
"It is a world of beauty and peace, which I know you would find to your liking. There is no hate, no crime, no wars. This is the image in which I intend to remake your world. One devoid of ugliness and evil. Where all men will live in true harmony, and the old will be cherished in their declining years."
"Yes, that will be good for them," Chiun said absently. "But tell me more. Tell me of the sun source."
"On my world as well as yours, the sun is a great source of energy. But we have learned to harness that energy more efficiently. All things on my planet are solar-powered."
Chiun's hazel eyes narrowed to slits. "And your assassins. What of them?"
"My civilization long ago advanced beyond such practices. The last of our assassins were rehabilitated through brain operations. They were rendered meek and nonviolent in this manner."
"You have answered all my questions," the Master of Sinanju announced suddenly. "I wish to confer with my son."
"You may do this," the World Master said, and the panel reopened. "But you must both decide if you wish to join with me in my plan to eradicate war and the evils of assassination after that."
Chiun left the gently bobbing ship.
* * *
When Pavel Zarnitsa saw that everyone in the barn was distracted by the reappearance of the old Oriental from the UFO— or whatever it was— he decided it was time to make his move.
He dashed inside, waved his pistol for all to see, and shouted at the top of his lungs, "You will all stand perfectly still, please! You, drop your weapon," Pavel told Amanda, who complied hastily. "The rest of you stand aside. I am claiming this spacecraft and its secrets on behalf of my government!"
"You fool, Pavel Zarnitsa! You will ruin everything!" The voice of the World Master was an amplified screech.
Pavel almost dropped his weapon in shock.
"You... you know my name?" Pavel demanded. "Who? How?"
"You have ruined everything," the voice said, and then a low humming filled the barn.
"Chiun! There's that sound again," Remo shouted, expecting his skin to heat up.
But it didn't. Instead, there came a sputtering and hissing from within the floating object, which suddenly fell to the ground. White-hot sparks like the product of a dozen arc-welding torches spilled out of the object. They hurt the eyes and caused everyone to look away in pain. Smoke filled the barn. People ran and collided with one another.
Remo, shielding his eyes, tried to find Chiun in the confusion. "Little Father," he shouted, "where—"
"Hush, Remo. I am here."
Remo felt a familiar hand take his. Chiun, seemingly oblivious to the smoke and sputtering light, guided them both away from the barn, which had started to blaze.
Remo glanced back once and saw the UFO. It was partially obscured by the smoke, but he clearly saw it slowly melting into a puddle of incandescent slag. There was no sign of the being who called himself the World Master.
?Chapter Fourteen
"Over here," Remo was saying. "I found one."
"One what?" Chiun called from inside the smoldering barn. The structure had burned almost to the ground before the fire had gone out on its own. Parts of two sides still stood stubbornly.
"One of the ones who didn't get away," Remo said, looking down at the stunned figure of Pavel Zarnitsa, whose face was black with soot.
"He— he knew my name," Pavel said dazedly. "How could he know my name?"
Remo, noticing his captive's accent, demanded, "You sound like a Russian."
"I am a Polack," Pavel told him, sitting up.
"Yeah? Well I've been to Russia, and I know what a Russian sounds like. And for my money, buddy, you sound like a Russian to me."
"Have you ever been to Poland?"
"Uh... no," Remo admitted.
"Then I submit you do not know what you are speaking of."
"Hey, Chiun, come listen to this guy. I think he's a Russian," Remo shouted.
"I do not have to listen to him," Chiun called back. "I can smell him. He is a Russian."
"I knew it," Remo said, lifting Pavel to his feet with one hand. "Time to come clean."
Pavel reached for his pistol, but Remo got to it first. He squeezed hard, and the weapon fell in pieces from his hand.
"Pretty neat trick, right?" Remo said.
"No," Pavel said. "Anyone could do it. The weapon is plastic."
"I'm beginning not to like you," Remo told him.
"That is too bad for one of us," Pavel admitted unhappily.
"You got that right," Remo said, dragging the Russian over to where Chiun picked through what was left of the UFO.
There wasn't much left— surprisingly little for such a large object, in fact. Most of it was shiny slag— a bit like a large bob of lead that had been melted down— only whatever the metal had been, it wasn't lead, and it was still too hot to touch. There were other things, too. Pieces of machinery that had been inside the UFO. Some of these stuck out of the smooth slag like jagged teeth, but even these had withered in the intense heat.