oped silently back to Pid.

"I was hungry," he said.

"You were not," Pid said sternly.

"Was," Ger mumbled, writhing with embarrassment.

Pid remembered what the Chief had told him. Ger certainly did have
Hunter tendencies. He would have to watch him more closely.

"We'll have no more of that," Pid said. "Remember--the lure of Exotic
Shapes is not sanctioned. Be content with the shape you were born to."

Ger nodded, and melted back into the underbrush. They moved on.

At the extreme edge of the woods they could observe the atomic energy
installation. Pid disguised himself as a clump of shrubbery, and Ger
formed himself into an old log. Ilg, after a moment's thought, became
a young oak.

The installation was in the form of a long, low building, surrounded
by a metal fence. There was a gate, and guards in front of it.

The first job, Pid thought, was to get past that gate. He began to
consider ways and means.

From the fragmentary reports of the survey parties, Pid knew that, in
some ways, this race of Men were like the Grom. They had pets, as the
Grom did, and homes and children, and a culture. The inhabitants were
skilled mechanically, as were the Grom.

But there were terrific differences, also. The Men were of fixed and
immutable form, like stones or trees. And to compensate, their planet
boasted a fantastic array of species, types and kinds. This was
completely unlike Grom, which had only eight distinct forms of animal
life.

And evidently, the Men were skilled at detecting invaders, Pid
thought. He wished he knew how the other expeditions had failed. It
would make his job much easier.

* * * * *

A Man lurched past them on two incredibly stiff legs. Rigidity was
evident in his every move. Without looking, he hurried past.

"I know," Ger said, after the creature had moved away. "I'll disguise
myself as a Man, walk through the gate to the reactor room, and
activate my Displacer."

"You can't speak their language," Pid pointed out.

"I won't speak at all. I'll ignore them. Look." Quickly Ger shaped
himself into a Man.

"That's not bad," Pid said.

Ger tried a few practice steps, copying the bumpy walk of the Man.

"But I'm afraid it won't work," Pid said.

"It's perfectly logical," Ger pointed out.

"I know. Therefore the other expeditions must have tried it. And none
of them came back."

There was no arguing that. Ger flowed back into the shape of a log.
"