"There is an emergency bridge here in engineering," said The Ancient One. "Can it be shut off from the rest of the ship? Can heat be maintained there while the rest of the ship is cooled off?"
"Yes," said the alien., beginning to see The Ancient One's plan, "but there are emergency heating units in all sections. It will take time to sabotage them all."
"I already have," said The Ancient One, "now if heat is called for, they put out cold. I reversed the circuits. Only the main heating unit's still function normally. You have five friends. Get them into the emergency bridge. As soon as you are there, I'll disconnect the primary heating system, and put the cooling units on full effect. Only where you are will have heat. Then you will simply have to maintain the ship's orbit and wait for the cruiser to arrive. I will also take the liberty of disabling your firing controls before I leave."
"What will happen to my people?" the alien asked. "Will the Mor destroy them when they arrive?"
"I can't guarantee anything," said The Ancient One, "but I do have some influence with The Mor and The Union. I will try to get them to take you to some suitable planet where you will be cared for and live out your natural life cycle in peace."
"Very well," said the alien, "I will obey you. I trust that you will do as you say."
He began to speak into a communicator on his wrist, calling his friends to engineering. When they were safely locked in the engineering bridge The Ancient One began to act. When his work was completed, he returned his full essence to the main bridge. He was there barely moments, when alarms began to ring, and crewmen began to hurry about frantically. The ship's commander looked at the confusion. A quick glance at the temperature gauges showed them already far into the blue. Sluggishly the ship's commander trotted back to the holding area where The Ancient One sat smiling.
"Problems, commander?" he asked.
"How?" said the commander.
The Ancient One only smiled. "It's beyond your understanding," he said, "beyond anything you know!"
The guages were now far down into the blue and several of the crew were already sleeping at their stations. Struggling, the ship's commander drew a weapon from his side.
"That won't do you any good," said The Ancient One. "Before the weapon takes effect, I will simply switch back to my own body. Only your telepath will die."
The weapon slipped from the commander's hand to the floor. The body he was in was going to sleep so the Ancient One left it, returning to his own, where he enjoyed a good night's sleep.
In the morning he told his mate what he had done.
"Eat your heart out, Dr. Who!" she said. The Ancient One laughed. It amused him how she always related things to t.v. shows. But in a way it was alright; it was a t.v. show that had alerted him on how to deal with the aliens. He went to work, and worked a double shift, those around him having no idea what had occurred. A new entertainment manager had already been hired, and this one showed vry little attention to the girls at all- as a matter of fact, his attentions seemed to be directed towards the male performers. And he was already very friendly with The Ancient One. As he was standing by him that afternoon, The Ancient One spoke to him quietly.
"It would be best," he said, "that you associate with the others in the restaurant and stay away from me. It will be better for all concerned. I do not care for what you have in mind. I will warn you once, but only once; do not bother me, understand?"
The new entertainment director looked hurt.
"Of course," he said, "but can't we at least be friends?"
"I am not friends with one like you," The Ancient One told him. "if you turn from the sickness that afflicts you, I will gladly give you counsel and guidance. But as long as you cotinue to do what you do, stay away from me. You disrupt my aura."
The Ancient One turned and went about his business leaving a very bewildered entertainment director in his wake.
"He seems like such a nice guy," the entertainment director said to one of the other workers, "I never thought HE'D be prejudice."
"He's not!" the other worker said. "He treats everybody equal....blacks, whites, Christians, Jews, Mohammedeans. He says each is entitled to his own belief. He just doesn't approve of certain practices. And, he'll let you know damned fast he doesn't. As long as you don't bother him, he don't bother you. But start irritating him, and you'll wish you'd never been born. Catch my meaning?"
The new entertainment director shrugged. "Yeah," he said, "I guess I was mistaken. I thought he was a brother."
"A lot of people make that mistake," the other worker said, "but usually not for long!"
A couple of days later, a Mor telepath contacted The Ancient One. They had secured the alien vessel, and had the crew safely put away in their quarters. They were about to leave. They would follow The Ancient One's wishes, and take the creatures to a world comfortable for them where they would be allowed to live out their natural existence. The six that had helped him, however, would be given liberty to move about on The Union Ships. But before they departed, The Organic Computers requested that they have one last chance to speak with him. The Ancient One agreed, and that evening The Telepath spoke to his mate, while he listened to a similar message from the ship's commander.
"You must understand," they said, "that we did not really mean harm. We were merely carrying out our masters' wishes. You see, long ago, our masters had a beautiful world. then, strangers came...strangers that meant well. The strangers taught them things, things that if used wisely would have benefitted our masters. But our masters were not mature enough to handle what they were given. Instead of using the knowledge for good, they used it for war. And when it was done, their world was virtually lifeless. And they were left with a terrible legacy, that makes them prisoners on their own barren worlds.
Our masters are very beautiful. You would wish to touch them. But if you did, a few moments later the part of your body you touched them with would begin to itch. A short time later it would be black and rotting. Within two hours of your time, you would be dead. Within one of your days your body would be completely decayed. Anyone that touched you would die, too; any living thing that touched you. Eventually your body would dry into dust, and as the wind carried that dust, any living thing it touched would die. Within a year, all life on your world would disappear. Perhaps for a time some of your people might survive, but sooner or later the contamination would reach them.
Now, our masters must live on barren, lifeless worlds. They can visit no one or allow anyone to visit them. This is the legacy those who interfered with their world left them; to never see or touch another living thing, to have to depend on others for your food. They swore if they could prevent it, such would never happen to another world. They would never allow one race to interfere with another one again."
"If they can touch no living thing," said The Ancient One's mate, "how did they make you?"
"We were genetically engineered and programmed by mechanicals," the telepath answered, "what YOU call robots."
The ship's commander spoke through The Ancient One.
"We are beaten," he said, "you have proven your superority over us. We are now helpless. We cannot force you to comply with our wishes. But we beg you, withdraw from this world. Gather your kind out of it and go someplace else. If you do not, you will doom this world to destruction. These people you interfere with will be destroyed."
"You do not understand," said The Ancient One, "the contamination of this world has already taken place. Our enemies interfered with it ages ago. They modified the creatures that lived there, made the ones that now strive to take over the world; to make it into a likeness of the world they once possessed; to again carry their evil back into the stars, to once again establish their blood-thirsty empire. My people would gladly withdraw. Eventually we will, returning this world to its rightful owners and letting them live in peace with one-another, as it should be. But our enemies will never withdraw. They would never go anywhere else. They claim this world. If they can't have it, they will destroy it. That, WE must prevent."
The alien nodded. "It is as we have been made to understand," he said. "We had hoped, though, that there was some alternative, that some agreement could be made with those who oppose you."
"We have been trying," said The Ancient One, "for one-hundred-thousand years. We will continue to try. We are truly beings of peace. We fight only when we must, and then only do as little harm as we have to."
"We can only hope," said the alien commander, "that the harm you must do is very slight. We wish you well."
The Ancient One returned to his own body, but The Mor Telepath continued to speak to him.
"There is another cruiser coming," he said, "it will be left here permanently. Contact will be made with you once a week to be sure that all is well. We are removing our native agent that you contacted. Her cover is jeopardized. We know you would not purposely betray her, but it might occur accidently. We wish we could help you in other ways, but that would violate our doctrine. We can only wish you well and express our thanks."
"I only wish I could have acted sooner," said The Ancient One.
"We can only do," said The Mor Telepath, "what we have the opportunity to do. What you did was more than enough."
So ended the strange adventure of The Organic Computers.

Confucious say, "Man who hates will be hated, man who loves will be loved. Those who listen to wisdom and learn will be wise."