"This Earth Of Hours"

James Blish's "This Earth of Hours," ending with the beginning of an interstellar conflict between the telepathic, unitive civilizations of Population I stars and the brained, warring civilizations of Population II stars, should not be just another short story in a collection. Coming, as it does, after:

"Nor Iron Bars," which introduces telepathy;

before that, "Common Time," which introduces interstellar travel, initially with the Haertel overdrive;

before that, Welcome To Mars, about Haertel on Mars, and "No Jokes on Mars," about later events on Mars -

- "This Earth of Hours" is a culmination no less than Book Four of The Seedling Stars or Volume IV of Cities In Flight and should be published at the end of a volume containing the five relevant works in the appropriate order with the divergent branches of the Haertel Scholium in separate volumes.

Thus, five volumes (correction: six; see here) would each begin with an important discovery or discoveries, then progress towards a climax galactic, intergalactic or even cosmic in scope.