BEYOND THE BALONEY FACTORY ACE normally didn't approach Ivor to do something it normally did. But the planet Zendron presented a problem it had never dealt with before. ACE recognized the power of the planet's militaries and predicted that someday the planet might unite and form a formidable force in the universe that might rival that of ACE. It wanted to support the planet's militaries to integrate them into ACE. But every time it sent representatives down to the planet, they returned as extremely old people after less than an hour.

After hearing about the accelerated aging, Ivor went to the Newgate hospital and entered the coffin to be physically adjusted to become immortal. Both Ramshief and Drozin followed suit. Then the Triple Team traveled to the planet to deal with the military heads of the nations.

On the starship the team was aboard, while orbiting the planet, they saw the action on the planet visibly change. Storms would last less than a second as the planet spun like a quasar. The team had to time their teleportation so they didn't end up in an ocean.

The team beamed down to one of the nations and arrived in the middle of a wheat field. The surroundings slowed to a more normal speed.

"Hey, what are you three doing in my field?" asked a farmer hovering over the field in a flying tractor.

"We're sorry," said Ivor. "We beamed down here and need to go to where your military leaders are."

"You're talking about the War Department. It's located over 1500 miles away. Unless you can beam there from here you'll need to find access to transportation to the complex. There is a tube station a few miles to the south of here if you don't mind walking."

"We've got all the time in the world," said Drozin.

The team walked to the tube station a few hours later and took a tube car to the War Department. While there, the team talked with the generals and admirals who had no intention to join ACE. They knew they could go beyond the capabilities of ACE in a century or two and it would be as if it were a day.

The team beamed to all the military headquarters and they got the same reception. There was no way they were going to join ACE. Given enough time, ACE would have to join them or risk being defeated in a galactic war with a planetary empire.

So that ACE wouldn't attack the planet to take it over until the militaries could develop unapproachable might, the team was held in one of the prisons for 300 years. The militaries hoped the men would go insane after spending time locked away for so long. If it hadn't been for the EPU arcade where the team members could experience programs, they would have gone insane.

After the sentence was over, the militaries were incredibly strong and the team members were allowed to beam back up to the starship. Up there only three hours had passed. The people were not surprised that the team members looked like they did when they beamed down. Many ACE officers had gone through the coffin.

It was disappointing to hear what the militaries had in mind. So the ship decided to go away. But Ivor stopped the captain of the ship from leaving orbit for a few more hours. He had a feeling something would happen the captain wasn't expecting.

The people aboard the ship watched the development down on the planet as the militaries developed weapon systems and vessels more potent than ACE had. The captain feared what was about to happen, but Ivor said to wait a little longer.

As Ivor expected, a war took place between the militaries that eventually led to the destruction of the planet a second later. The captain and most of the crew members were shocked. Ivor explained what happened to the captain and why it happened in his cabin.

"When the team was down there we sensed some tension between the militaries. I knew that someday there would be a war to determine which military was the strongest. They no doubt developed hyperlight speed reactors that were superior to what ACE uses. That's why only the planet was destroyed and not the entire universe. They learned how to control a hyperlight speed chain reaction but not their hatred for each other which destroyed them."

"That was insane," the captain said as he shook his head.

"I think ACE has avoided the same kind of future because you believe in unifying the people involved with the organization. No race tries to overpower the other races. Just make sure ACE keeps it that way."

The team traveled back to Earth and they took their wives to Newgate to have their ages locked forever in the coffin. It would have been unfair to not age while their wives got older.